Warning: There are spoilers ahead for episode 5 of IT: Welcome to Derry.The massive Pennywise twist in IT: Welcome to Derry episode 5 was originally going to be used to kill a member of the Losers Club in IT Chapter Two. Welcome to Derry episode 5 features the return of Matty Clements (Miles Ekhardt), who seemingly died in the series premiere.
In episode 5, Matty claims to have escaped It, and after revealing that Phil Malkin (Jack Molloy Legault) may still be alive in the sewers, Welcome to Derry‘s young characters head down there to save their friend. In the sewers, they see Matty transform into Its form as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, revealing that the evil entity was pretending to be Matty throughout the entire episode.
While speaking with Decider about episode 5, co-creator and co-showrunner Jason Fuchs reveals that this twist was almost used to kill Mike Hanlon in IT Chapter Two. He explains that a version of the script had Mike leading the Losers Club into the sewers, only for them to discover Mike’s corpse there, and realize that It had been taking on the form of Mike throughout the entire movie. Check out Fuchs’ comments below:
So when I was working on IT Chapter Two, there was a version of that script where Mike Hanlon — who has obviously been guiding our adult Losers the entire time — eventually takes them down into the sewers, takes them down into It’s sanctuary, where they find Mike Hanlon’s body. And you realize that the Mike Hanlon we were with the whole journey of IT Chapter Two was a manifestation of It.
Fuchs, along with Andy and Barbara Muschietti, eventually decided to scrap the idea since Mike survives in the source material, and changing his fate would have been too much of a divergence from Stephen King’s novel. When developing Welcome to Derry, they realized that episode 5’s Pennywise twist was the perfect place to revive the concept.
We thought, “Oh, it’s just too much of a departure from the book. We want to be closer to where the story beats.” And so that went away. Then when we started talking about the journey of the show, and specifically Episode 5, I remember us talking and going, “Wait, this is an idea that might actually have found its time and its moment.” Matty as the guide, Matty in that context, makes a lot more sense.
Fuchs went on to explain that Welcome to Derry allows for “riskier swings” than IT Chapter Two did. While the prequel series is based on the novel’s interlude chapters, there is less to directly adapt. This opens the door for more creative freedom and being able to do things that are truly new, including the Matty and Pennywise twist.
You have more opportunities to take riskier swings. You have the opportunity to take departures that you couldn’t in the films because it all really is fresh. Now we’re using pieces of the book, but then extrapolating and sort of inventing from there. So that moment was a long time coming, and it was very cool to see it real.
Killing Mike in IT Chapter Two and having It manipulate the Losers Club with his appearance would have been a major change, and one that likely would have been controversial among fans of the King novel. While Welcome to Derry gives this fate to Matty instead, young Will Hanlon (Blake Cameron James), who will one day be Mike’s father, is present for the terrifying moment.
As IT: Welcome to Derry continues, the series has the potential to borrow more unused ideas from IT and IT Chapter Two, as long as they meaningfully serve the prequel’s story. Some major events and character fates are already known because of the existing canon, but as Fuchs indicates, there are plenty of unknowns to experiment with in future episodes.
